tracy: i don't know about that. finally, here's mike: tracy: we love hearing from you. send the show an e-mail to gerri@foxbusiness.com. that's it for tonight's willis report. thanks for joining us. don't forget to dvr the show if you can't catch us live. have a good night, everyone, see you tomorrow. ♪ lou: good evening, everybody. president obama could hardly have chosen a worse place to be today. the president flew to michigan where he blasted the republican-led state legislature and the republican governor for their support of right-to-work legislation. his timing could hardly have been worse.

that worker rights legislation will be voted on and given final approval tomorrow and be signed into law by governor rick snyder. michigan becomes the 24th state in the nation to ratify a aw that protects workers from being forced to pay union dues as a condition of their employment. we'll be examining tonight what's happening in michigan and in washington, d.c. with the author of "shadow bosses: how government. employee unions control america and rob taxpayers blind." mallory factor joins us. also tonight, egypt's president, muhammad morsi, ordering the egyptian military to arrest people in the street even as he claimed to have rescinded the dictatorial powers he assumed which have spurred violent demonstrations. and a new intelligence report concludes that america's time as the lone superpower is nearing an end. former director of national intelligence john negro panty joins us to talk about our future as a superpower and the

challenges that we'll surely face. we begin tonight with one of the few scheduling misadventures of president obama's swire tenure in -- entire tenure in office. the president speaking to autoworkers outside detroit today, a day before governor snyder will sign michigan's newly-passed right-to-work law into effect. the president standing firmly with the unions that worked hard to get him reelected. >> what we shouldn't do, i just gotta say this, what we shouldn't be doing is try to take away your rights to bargain @or better wages to work -- [cheers and applause] these so-called right-to-work laws, they don't have anything to do with economics, they have everything to do with politics. [cheers and applause] what they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money. lou: while michigan becomes the 24th state to officially grant workers the right to opt out of paying union dues, the state could have been the 25th with a right-to-work law. twenty-two other state legislatures considered the

pro-worker legislation this year, and three other republican governors, those of south carolina, tennessee and indiana, signed bills into law. new hampshire could have been the 24th state to pass that right-to-work law. its state legislature did pass the bill, but outgoing democratic governor john lynch vetoed it. the president's public support of unions today poorly timed for another reason. chrysler's management forced to bow to the united autoworkers union as the company rehired 13 employees who had been caught drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana while on the job. chrysler's spokesman said the company was forced to respect a union arbitrator's decision. and while the president was in michigan, reports that a chinese auto parts company has purchased bankrupt a123 systems, a battery maker that received more than half of a $250 million

taxpayer-funded obama stimulus grant. a123 systems was once heralded by energy secretary steven chu as a success story for american manufacturing. the green battery maker blaming weak demand for electric cars for their failure. china, obvioussy, has plans to fix all of that with a little help from the american taxpayer and, of course, the president. wile we focus on the fiscal cliff negotiations, or more appropriately the impasse, many of our state governments aren't in much better shape. state pension systems, unfunded liabilities are now estimated to be in the range of $2.5 trillion to almost $4 trillion. leading is california with more than $370 billion in unfunded pension liabilities, only 47% are currently funded. a pension debt per household in california of almost $30,000. illinois close behind, $167 billion in unfunded liabilities, 28% funded, and the state

pension debt per household amounting to over $34,000. in municipal bonds illinois sold over $5 billion in bonds this year making it the third biggest debt issuer in the first three quarters this year. california and new york, numbers one and two with. the issue of unfunded pension liabilities with the passage of right-to-work laws is a subject that i'm going to be taking up with our next guest. -@mallory factor, author of can the bestseller, "shadow boxes: government nioos control america and rob taxpayers blind." we are delighted to have you with us. let's turn first, if i may, to the president telling autoworkers that right-to work-laws don't have anything to do with economics, they have everything to do with politics. your reaction? >> that's absolutely absurd. i mean, just look at the economics. a business employment growth, if you look at the right-to-work

states, they're up two points plus. if you look at the forced unionism states over the past decade, their employment growth is down three points or more. lou: we've got a graphic of that, and i'd like to put that up to just show everyone the percentage growth in i want to @all non-farm, private sector payrolls or business employment, if you will. there in right-to-work states, as we take a look at that, up 2.4%. enforced union states down 3.4%. that is a significant statement when it comes to right-to-work states in this country. >> it sure is. the real bottom line to it is people are voting with their feet. since 1990s -- since 1990 every time we've reapportioned the united states house of representatives, the

right-to-work states have gained eight to nine representatives while the forced unionism states have lost eight to nine. the difference since 1990 has been 25 seats going from the forced unionism states to the right-to-work states. people are voting with their feet. people don't want to be forced into unionism, they don't want to have a pay a union to keep their jobs. lou: and the fact of the matter is that a heritage study shows a quarter of union members would stop paying dues if they could. they're being begin thaa opportunity under legislation. as we reported, 22 states considering it this year, four of them actually got it done including now most recently, of course, the state of michigan. how powerful is this movement going to be over the course of the next year? >> i think this is a very important movement, because people want jobs. and what happens is if your forced unionism destroys jobs by

forcing people to pay the union's dues and forcing all sorts of featherbedding, all sorts of regulations which don't serve the company or productivity. forced unionism is bad. people vote against it all the time. in wisconsin when public employees were given the opportunity, more than half of them said good-bye to the union halls. lou: well, also, we're talking about public employee unions, and as we're talking -- by the strongest estimate of unfunded liabilities on the part of states, we're talking about $3.9 trillion, almost $4 trillion. this is a massive problem coming at us like a locomotive, if you will. and almost no one is paying attention to it as we focus on the fiscal cliff and what will be an agreement, ifs reached, that'll amount to something in the neighborhood of a couple trillion dollars. >> and the forced union states are looking for tte federal government to bail them out.

but more important than that, the dems, the democrats don't want to lose the forced union states -- lou: well, i'm not talking about the forced union states now, i'm talking about every state in the union. and the fact is that we're talking about unfunded ppnsion liabilities of $4 trillion, mallory. and -- >> but much worse in the forced unions. lou: excuse me, if i may finish. >> i'm sorry. lou: $4 trillion that no one is paying attention to, how will it be resolved? >> it's tough to resolve, but it's much worse. the point i was trying to make is it's much worse in the forced uniin states, much worse. it's almost double. that's one of the issues. we're going to have a big problem resolving that. it's going to be a major problem with services that are absolutely necessary not being able to be kept up because of all these pensions that are unfunded. lou: all right. mallory, we appreciate your being with us. thanks so much, mallory factor. we're going to have uch more on

the president's opposition o pro-worker laws and the rising economic power not only of unions, but of china in our economy. we'll be taking that up with the a-team here tonight. stay with us. the fiscal cliff fiasco. the obama plan, the boehner plan, will either alter america's rising rate of spending or lessen the size of our bloated government? the answer in tonight's chalk talk. is the housing market really recovering? $17 trillion is riding on the answer. the president and ceo of citi mortgage joins us next. twins. i dn't see them coming. i have obligations. cute obligation b obligatio. i need to rethink the core of my portfolio. what i really need is eep.

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lou: new reports show foreign investment is helping the housing market slowly recover.

citimortgage president and ceo sanjiv das joins us here in just moments to discuss that and much more when it comes to housing. in the money line tonight, investors waiting cautiously to see whether washington can work out a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. stocks rising, well, modestly is a big, strong word for what happened. technology stocks helping the dow up 15 points. the s&p up a fraction, the nasdaq rose nine. trading light. technology stocks strong in the market, and i'm speaking, obviously, comparatively. hewlett-packard setting the tone, leading the sector, not commenting on speculation that carl icahn has been amazing a position in the stock -- amassing a position in the stock. cisco systems -- mcdonald's, also a dow stock rising on news that sales rose 2.5% last month. that stock up just about 1% today. piper jaffray calling apple a

$900 stock based on fundamentals. it may be, but it's got a ways to go after today, apple losing $3.43 on the day, $8 above its low of the session and trading slightly higher in after hours. crude oil prices down on the day for a fifth straight session closing at 85.56, the decline in crude also showing up at the pump. the average price of a gallon of gasoline dropping 11 cents, and we're looking at an average price of $3.34 a gallon. in the bond market, the yield on the ten-year note stands at 1.61%. well, foreign buyers helping at the margin at least to boost our improved housing market. those buyers accounting for some $82 billion in home sales over the past year. $9 billion of those dollars coming from the chinese, they're second only to those canadians as the largest foreign home buyers in this country. joining us now to discuss the state of the market, the ceo, the president of citimortgage,

sanjiv das. good to have you with us. >> thank you, lou. lou lao sanjiv, let's start with the overall robustness, the power of this housing recovery. is that too strong language to describe what's happening? >> perhaps too strong, but i will say that there are very clear signs now that housing is recovering on a sustained basis. 18 out of the 20 top cities in case shiller are now showing growth, you know, it appears to be, i think, what, 7 or 8 about six months ago. so it's been very strong. lou: or fewer. >> or fewer, yeah, a few fewer. but, you know, also remembering that home prices dropped so much from peak to trough. they dropped about 34%. and so they're recovering, be i they're recovering -- but they're recovering from a very low base. but we're seeing sustained growth. lou: growth, sales moving higher, prices, how long -- well, first, do you expect to see a price recovery as well as a sales recovery, do you expect

that price recovery to ever get us back to par, if you will? >> well, the general view, who knows. but the general view -- lou: you always tell how intelligent a person is by the number of times they say who knows. >> well, i'm not being cute. lou: well, it's very wise. >> if you look at long-term trends from 1968 onwards if you drew a trend line, you know that there was a bubble in the 2006-2007 era. from where we are right now to getting back to the trend line, the general view is it'll be about 2020 to get there. lou: so if somebody's looking at a profit, they might eagerly jump at that modest profit rather than wait for a full -- >> the growth is expected to be at about 3-5% -- 4-5%. lou: we're looking at the overall value somewhere around 17 trillion, a little over 10 trillion in debt, 7 trillion in the market itself. how much do can you expect to see that market actually grow?

>> well -- lou: or do you? >> well, that market's shrinking. you know, u.s. consumers had leverage of about 124% at the peak. now it's at about 114 president, and -- 114%, and that's one of the biggest headwinds in terms of just the growth of debt. that's not such a bad thing either. we should think about leverage, consumer leverage, household leverage -- lou: depends on the quality of the leverage. >> depends on the quality of the leverage, and i think the quality of the leverage around 100 is where you want it to be, and i think that's probably where a normal, steady environment should be. lou: so is it your sense that this market, this recovery right now is vulnerable given the fiscal cliff, all of the uncertainties that are -- it seems -- mounting more, the folks in washington talk. >> i'd say that this recovery is fragile. it depends, you know, it's also been very patchy. as i said, it grew from -- it's

growing from a very, very low point in the economy, so you're seeing markets like phoenix, detroit, miami kind of clouding some of this information. but i would say that the fiscal cliff discussions are definitely not helping. i think consumers see the implications of tax reduction, for example, coming off -- lou: what would that do to the market if it were to be implemented? >> well, i think it'll definitely hurt the market, and i think i would not recommend doing that at this stage of recovery. lou: somehow i thought that would be your answer, as it would be for most homeowners who have gotten used to that deduction. >> sure. lou: sanjiv, great to have you. >> my pleasure. lou: sony's "skyfall" retained the top spot. the james bond movie took in another 11 million lifting its domestic total to more than 261 million worldwide. "skyfall" has brought in more than $900 million so far, that makes it sony's highest-grossing

film in history. the film, by the way, will open in china early next year which should boost those numbers, i would guess, a little. the movie "rise of the guardians," it was second with $10.5 million in sales. a really quiet weekend. twilight's breaking dawn part 2 taking third place, it brought in more than $9 million for entertain. coming up, america's status is the sole superpower in question? the former director of national intelligence, john negro uponty, joins us to assess our superpower status and our future. president obama and house speaker boehner meeting ooer the weekend. whose views the numbers will prevail. well, i'll show you how much it matters to the nation in tonight's chalk talk. that's coming up next. look, if you have copd like me,

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lou: you know, everybody's getting pretty excited about that fiscal cliff negotiation or impasse, however you want to3 style it. but i want to show you, if i may tonight, very quickly, what really is at stake and how it's going to change the fiscal future of the country, our destiny as a nation. because this is a big deal, and we're talking about a fiscal cliff and great drama. if we stay on the same spending path, i thought i'd show you what happens if we change it to the boehner plan, the obama plan. let's start out with the do-nothing plan, because that's the plan we've got right now. the congressional budget office estimates our fiscal year 2013 deficit will be, well, $104 trillion for fiscal 2013, okay? and here's what happens to our national debt as a result of this baseline. it's going tt surge from $16.3 trillion to $17.5 trillion at

2013, then we get out here to about 2014, it's going to be, well, it's going to be about 19.4. 20.3 trillion, 20.3 trillion if we do nothing in 2016: and by 2022, out here, it's going to be $25.8 trillion. that's if we do nothing about this spending, this runaway spending, this irresponsible government. now let's take a look at what happens if president obama gets tough, and he gets it done. the president calling for $1.6 trillion in higher taxes. he wants $82 billion a year from that top 2%. by the way, that's the same amount of net tax hikes in the president's 2013 budget that the senate rejected unanimously back in may. so let's assume that things can happen differently, but let's

give him this whole full-board load, okay in the republican staff in the senate budget committee looked at those numbers, the president's budget, and here's what that would get us, all those new tax hikes that he's demanding so toughly and sternly and, i think, rather macho. by 2022 instead of 25.8, oh, no, that's going to get cut down. it'll amount to $25.4 trillion. if, we'll call it obama wins. the national media waiting for that one. that's what's going to be. it's going to be a really dramatic -- you know, i ought to just trace that line, the change and show you exactly how it changes. this is how that line changes over the course of the next ten years, if the president wins. unfortunately, neither party is offering a serious proposal to trim either our deficit or our

debt. the obama plan has $2 trillion in deficit reduction over the next ten years. the boehner plan goes for $2 trillion in deficit reduction, boehner wants, oh, yeah, he's going to kkck tail, all right? we're going to get $2.2 billion in the spending of this country. let me rephrase that. that'll be a $2.2 trillion reduction in the total planned spending. the growth of our spending will alter, it'll be just about that line right there. we're potentially looking at the republican plan, well, in 2020, i guess the best way to show you is just how tough it is. we'll only have a deficit and a debt, a national debt under the boehner plan -- remember, this is the o plan, this is the b plan -- $25.2 trillion by 2022.

mr. obama wants $350 billion in entitlement cuts over the next ten years, mr. boehner wants $800 billion in entitlement cuts, and we're going to see a big, dramatic negotiation. and what you and i is -- and all of our fellow americans are looking at is the prospect of a recession next year if the president and mr. boehner can't come to an agreement, as much as a 10% unemployment rate because both this president and the republican party, as you can see here, are playing at the margin. and the national media is not focusing on what the reality is. they're just playing games right in washington. folks in office and this president is guilty of class warfare. for what? for that? are you kidding me? president obama seems to love the drama. i thought he didn't like drama. but the reality is there will be is little impact on our fiscal future. and as a nation, after all of

the drama and whatever the outcome, we remain in great jeopardy. because this isn't a fiscal future any of us, any of us wants. morsi declares martial law in gypt and claims he's not a dictator. the obama middle east policy coming undone. the a-team reacts. obama what? another state tells the federal government it'ssnot interested in that obamacare exchange, and some democrats appear to be rethinking obamacare altogether. we'll tell you all about it. and america's superpower status, a shocking new report by our intelligence community warning that our power may be in decline. we'll be talking about our future as a superpower with the former director of national intelligence, john negroponte, next. ♪

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lou: didn't states may lose the status of the superpower by 2030 according to the national intelligence council. united states, other reports suggest would be the first with a shad as it surpasses north america with global power. talk about these implications, john negroponte the first director of national intelligence serving five times as ambassador, agreed to have you with us.

starting with the middle east president morsi with those that provoke 78 demonstrations to order the military to arrest civilians. your reaction? >> in demonstration of the precarious nature of the situation in. we cannot see egypt go over the brink. what would happen if for some reason egypt pulled back from the recognition of -- we have a critical role to play in many different ways. >> with the obama foreign policy the way the

administrations and has engaged morsi, a muslim brotherhood, armey, egypt, a re you optimistic the diplomacy is on the right path? >> i'd love think anybody knew what would happen when mubarak was first opposed but there is no easy fix or? solution. we have to stay close with the military civil society and no real substitute for closer engagement by the united states. some people may think we are a declining power but we're still the most influential and people in the middle east expect us to play a strong moral. lou: 4.8 million dollars

slated with conditions since morsi mediated brokered agreement between gaza and the israelis. today it was announced the f-16s will be shipped has critics and furious. is it correct? >> that stresses the point* we need to maintain a good relationship. when we became disenchanted with the government and military of pakistan rate cut off assistance to the pakistani military that led

to consequences. these choices are difficult but i am inclined to greater rather than lesser engagement. we should nine just wipe our hands of the situation. lou: with the obama intelligence council report talks about when we will not be a superpower but the first among equals projecting around 2030? your reckoning if you agree with the ascension of other powers? >> cents the financial crisis there is ben a tendeecy to write it down but they have been unduly

optimistic or even wrong. rear the most powerful economy in the world. demographically we are a healthy nation was the third most populous nation even through 2015. the notion and we are eclipse has been wrong. there is truth the center of gravity is shifting toward asia but away from europe and not away from the united states. that argues for the posse the administration has adopted cultivating those relationships. with trade and investment opportunities.

we do that. it is the right thing to do. >> when union shows power and influence of drug use and to get liquor up at work. caught on video. and navy pacific fleet commander tomorrow. the "a team" will assess all of that. silence from the president and speaker boehner of their negotiations. stay with us. ♪

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time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you rlldon't want topay re than you have to. nly citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest pre. and if it findone, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase onli. have a per sparkly y! ok. [ me announcer ] now all youeed is a mic carriage. citi price rewind. start saving at citi.m/pricerewind. lou: defense officials have identified highly decorated decorated -- decorated navy seal that was killed over the weekend. 28 year-old from pennsylvania of member of

tte elite seal team six killed in combat during the mission to rescue dr. joseph who was adopted by the taliban last wednesday successfully rescued by special operation forces five days later. one congressmen pilot at the federal budget and his record before going on the talk-show. here he is yesterday. >> one of the issues left alone as the mischa who was responsible, how we got here and to play in medicare and medicaid and social security as the drivers of the deficit. two wars on a credit card? financial institutions. lou: amnesia apparently is

contagious. here are the facts with an 40% of the budget is spent on medicare and social security. the congressmen could recall the voting record himself he voted to approve more spending four times over the past five years. grace of workers made national headlines when a local affiliate, the drinking and smoking marijuana during the lunch break. >> high. shouldn't you be building cars? don't you work at the chrysler factory? the government spent a lot of money to bail you out. you are on your lunch break drinking? >> chrysler fired 30 workers

but the cases ended up in the union arbitration process and has been returned to the job. chrysler does not agree but it wants to put this situation behind them as so many do. chrysler said we respect the agreements procedure process in the collective bargaining agreement and the relationship with united autoworkers. those that will not go the of state exchange, where republicans says he is convinced the government makes up the implementation as it goes along in providing almost no information on how works. the state's have to reach a decision by friday. growing democratic

opposition set to take effect senators and senators elect send a letter to harry reid urging a delay that the medical device industry has given little guidance. obama and speaker boehner meeting face-to-face over the fiscal cliff. they're not sayinn what they talked about as the "a team" joins us next.

lou: the joining me now the "a team" special assistant to the george bush ron christie, and pulitzer prize winning journalist never an assistant to george w. bush of love and president morsi says the rescinded his powers to arrested a civilian industry? >> good news tonight. he knowledge he had to make a concession that doesn't matter in the long run. it is all about the referendum for the islamist constitution. >> he has not backed away. lou: giving the obama administration, john

negroponte e giving support do you agree things are better than six months ago? >> here i have to agree they acknowledge immorality. egypt is going in a bad direction. there is nothing we could have done. >> egypt has retained with the policies it is pursuing. the decision to go to day you are the political expert , to go into michigan that frustrates the president they just sold

a123 1/4 million taxpayer money and 13 union workers going back to chrysler. it is the glory day. >> the campaign has never ended. the president said if i find any excuse to get outside of washington. >> it is one powerful exit. he wanted to stay there. >> if he was serious he would spend time burning the midnight oil. meeting with house speaker

is great. but meat with the senate and there is no negotiation there. lou: i would give you a hint to the next question. why should we take either seriously with the negotiation? said will take a break we will be back. for their annual football trip. that's double miles you can actually use. tragically, their ddy got sacked by blackouts. but it's our tradition! that's roughing the card holder. but with the pital one venture card you get double miles you can actually use. [ chring ] any flight, anytime. the scoreboard doesn't lie. what's in ur wallet? hut! i have me on my fantasy team. you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast, llasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®.

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lou: we are back with the "a team" why should it we take the president seriously? >> he has neglected to put cuts on the line, real spending cuts with discretionary spending. >> do you think speaker

boehner thinks what do i have to lose? may embrace the cuts and have agreed on the tax increases they have bipartisanship. here you go. >> they are worried about the court of public opinion. weird 3-d republicans cannot get wobbll. >> disses obama's ultimatum why can't they say you decide? >> >> then the republicans will fight another day on the spending cuts. the president knows said the deal is retroactive so this can go away with the flick

of a pen. lou: a few weeks to go? i confuse christmas and the fiscal cliff. [laughter] >> i think the president wins no matter what. lou: you could have saved me..3 [laughter] if the president does what you what he will blame the republicans. >> what we wanted him to do is a deal. >> but he also wins. lou: take the boehner play and or the obama plan as we enter stand it it doesn't make a difference over the next decade where we were with the national debt. it is about 20.$5 trillion.

it is beyond ignorance to talk about spending cuts when they alk about reducing the rate of spending. >> will not be partisan. [laughter] democrats have shown no interest to cut entitlements >> 40% of the better budget going to entitlements and democrats not putting this on the table and not being serious. lou: to repeat it neither boehner nor the president proposals with 25 point* $5 trillion over the next decade? why should read the excited? >> we respond to a crisis this and avoiding it. another one is coming. >>